Has tickling an evolutionary purpose...?

[firedog]

Apologies if this is not the correct location to post & feel free to adjust accordingly if need be.
Just read this & thought i would share -

"You probably know that you can't tickle yourself. And although you might be able to tickle a total stranger, your brain also strongly discourages you from doing something so socially awkward. These facts offer insight into tickling’s evolutionary purpose, says Robert R. Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of the book Laughter: A Scientific Investigation. Tickling, he says, is partly a mechanism for social bonding between close companions and helps forge relationships between family members and friends."

Read More Here : http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-12/fyi-what-evolutionary-purpose-tickling

 

[voided9]

I read once that it goes waaaay back to basically being an instinct, that lets us know there's a bug [potentially venomous] on us.

 

[firedog]

Interesting, makes sense.
🙂

 

[TMF Jeff]

The laughter part is supposed to have evolved socially, as part of how children (human and ape) learn to protect themselves. You want it to stop, but you're smiling and laughing which encourages your opponent to keep doing it until you successfully make them. In the process you learn how to fight back or get away from an aggressor.

 

[firedog]

Thanks for that info Jeff.